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Western Pennsylvania is a sports haven with all of the sports action a fan could ask for. You have NFL football and the tradition of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the NHL and an equal history of championships and hall of fame players in the Pittsburgh Penguins, MLB baseball with the Five-Time World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates, professional soccer with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, three major universities in Pitt, Duquesne, and Robert Morris, and WPIAL high school sports that have produced many legendary players. Mike Drakulich (@PghSportsNation) of NGSCSports brings you a weekly commentary focusing on the hot topics of the Pittsburgh sports landscape, and analysis of this week’s events. Jack Handy may have brought you deep thoughts… he just tells it like it is.
My, what a difference two weeks can make when it comes to the world of sports… or specifically, Pittsburgh SportsNation.
In late February, the Pittsburgh Penguins still had hopes of getting back into the race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Pitt Panthers had to finish strong to position themselves to make the NCAA Tournament, and the Pittsburgh Steelers were busy making cuts to get as much cap space heading into free agency and the draft in April.
Since then, it’s been pretty busy in the City of Champions, and we’ll start with the Penguins, who have fallen off the cliff when it comes to simply playing a competitive game. Last Thursday, they traded away star winger Jake Guentzel, and have scored ONE goal in the last three games afterwards.
To paraphrase Harry Doyle in Major League, “One goal? That’s all we got? One goddamned goal!!??”
In their last seven games, the Penguins are 1-6, and have basically quit on the season.
Other than the Guentzel trade, GM Kyle Dubas was quiet come NHL Trade Deadline day, only making a few minor moves, including sending defenseman Chad Ruhwedel to the New York Rangers.
Trading away Sidney Crosby’s best winger was beyond underwhelming with the return they got–to say the least, by not getting back any of Carolina’s top prospects. Michael Bunting is a gritty winger who will add some sandpaper to the lineup, and Ville Koivunen, Vasily Ponomarev, Cruz Lucius, a conditional 2024 first-round pick and a conditional 2024 fifth-round pick may help out three or four years down the road, but I was expecting a bit more when trading away a guy has was scored 219 career goals and has been money in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
If the goal is to retool the team around Crosby to be relevant again for the 2024-25 season, Dubas certainly has his work cut out for him this off-season when this year mercifully comes to an end in April.
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The major sports network’s agenda to disrespect and ultimately destroy the ACC Conference has been ongoing in football for years, and has now crossed over into doing the same to the legacy of ACC basketball, which was always regarded as one of the best in college basketball, along with the Big East, before all of the conference realignment madness began to destroy college sports and many rivalries as we knew it.
The Pitt Panthers won nine out of their last eleven games, finishing 4th in the ACC standings with a 12-8 record and a 21-10 record overall.
Those numbers in prior years would see Pitt as a lock to make the NCAA Tournament come Selection Sunday.
Not in 2024.
For some reason, many so-called experts and “Bracketologists” have Pitt not listed as one of the teams to make the Big Dance, with only #4 North Carolina and #11 Duke as locks to get in.
Virginia (22-9, 13-7), which finished 3rd in the ACC, and Clemson (21-10, 11-9), who finished 6th, are the next two teams that bracketologists believe have the best chance at getting an invitation, depending how they fare in the upcoming ACC Tournament this week.
Virginia was only 6-4 in their last ten games, which included a home court loss to… Pitt.
Clemson was 7-3 down the stretch, and did beat Pitt at home.
The Panthers, according to some of these simpletons, would still have to win their first ACC Tournament game this Thursday at 2:30 vs the winner of Wake Forest/Notre Dame/Georgia Tech AND ALSO beat UNC on Friday night in the ACC semifinals (unless the Tar Heels choke), to be part of the field of 68.
So that’s two for sure in the ACC, with a possibility of no more than five ACC teams getting into March Madness.
Yet, the Mountain West Conference is widely expected to get up to six teams into the Tournament.
Are you kidding me?
Is that the same Mountain West Conference that has gone 10-21 in the Tournament since 2013, with five of those wins coming last season courtesy of San Diego State’s run to the National Title Game?
Just for those keeping tabs, other than the Aztecs, the rest of the conference has gone a magical 2-14 since 2016, with those two victories coming at the behest of Nevada who made the Sweet 16 in 2018.
Gee, I wonder, as my good friend Dean told me, if this all has to do with TV Contracts with ESPN, FOX and CBS, the latter of which has a six year deal worth $270 million until 2026 with the MWC?
Sadly, the tactics of Mainstream Media, also known as the “Fake News”, have infiltrated the sports landscape, and tainted the credibility of these networks we once trusted to be fair and balanced.
Money and greed is now destroying the one place we all used to go to for a distraction from the grind of daily life.
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Know this, there isn’t a team out there that wants to see this Pitt team across the line from them in the Tournament.
Since Jaland Lowe was inserted into the starting line-up, this has been a different team than the group that started off 1-5 in the ACC. When Lowe, Blake Hinson, Bub Carrington, and even Guillermo Diaz-Graham have one of those nights from beyond the arc, Pitt is almost impossible to beat. Ask West Virginia and Duke fans about the display that Hinson has put up in his games against then this year, when Hinson was literally burying shots seven to eight feet behind the three point line.
I still say the Selection Committee will do the right thing and have UNC, Duke, Virginia, Clemson, and Pitt all in, unless there are some unbelievable upsets next weekend, combined by Virginia, Clemson, or Pitt getting crushed in their opening game of the ACC Tournament.
No matter who gets in, I guarantee that the ACC will have more combined wins than the Mountain West in the Tournament.
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Late Sunday night, the Twittersphere was ablaze with the news of quarterback Russell Wilson signing a one year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It’s a can’t lose proposition for Pittsburgh, who now has Wilson basically for free.
Everyone in the national and Pittsburgh media have pegged Wilson as the de facto starter over Kenny Pickett before the ink is even dry on the contract when it becomes official on Wednesday.
What’s the issue with having an open battle for the position at Training Camp? If Wilson is so much better than Pickett, then let’s see what happens when July and August rolls around. Let the best man win.
How does anybody know how Pickett is going to respond and perform under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, not to mention being behind an offensive line that has Broderick Jones starting on it at left tackle?
Pickett has played just three full games with Jones as the full time starter, and that was at right tackle, and just one full game free of the joke that was Matt Canada and his offensive system the team had to suffer through for two and a half seasons.
At this point, I don’t care who succeeds. I, and everyone in SteelerNation, just want to see this team win a playoff game again, instead of settling for non-losing seasons under Mike Tomlin.
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Only 16 days till the season opener for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Buccos, with the exception of maybe two positions, could have some serious pop in the line-up when the season begins in Miami on Thursday, March 28.
Henry Davis (Catcher), Rowdy Tellez (1B), Oneil Cruz (SS), Ke’Bryan Hayes (3B), Brian Reynolds (LF), Jack Suwinski (CF), and Andrew McCutchen (DH/OF) all have power in their swings. Only 2nd base, with either Liover Peguero or Nick Gonzales, and right field with Edward Olivares are spots that lack the longball.
More on the Pirates, including the starting rotation in another week as we grow closer to opening day.
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Presenting the Top 10 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie quotes:To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women
- “I’ll be back!” – The Terminator.
- “Hey Killian! Here is Sub-Zero! Now… plain zero!” – The Running Man, after killing Sub-Zero.
- “Aw.,..He had to split.” – The Running Man, when asked what happened to Buzzsaw.
- “Remember, Sully, when I promised to kill you last? I lied” – Commando, after dropping Sully off a cliff.
- “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.” – Conan The Barbarian, when asked, ‘What is best in life?’
- “Stick around.” – Predator after killing an enemy soldier with a knife.
- “Let off some steam, Bennett.” – Commando, after killing Bennett.
- “I eat Green Berets for breakfast. And right now, I’m very hungry!” – Commando.
- “Hello cutie pie, one of us is in deep trouble.” – The Running Man, when Richards confronts Killian at the end.
- “Consider that a divorce!” – Total Recall, after killing his fake wife Lori.
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From Midland, "The Basketball Capital of Pennsylvania", located 35 miles NW of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. This former steel town was home to storied athletes such as Dave Alston, Norm Van Lier, Simmie Hill, and the legendary 1965 Midland High School Basketball Team.
There's nowhere on earth that is more dedicated to its sports teams like Western Pennsylvania and the city of Pittsburgh. The passion and pride of Pittsburgh's fan base is second to no one. From the NFL, NHL, MLB, NCAA football and basketball, to W.P.I.A.L. high school sports, "The City of Champions" has it all!
As Editor of Pittsburgh SportsNation, Mike Drakulich provides top notch opinions and coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Pitt Panthers football & basketball, Robert Morris Colonials basketball, and Duquesne Dukes basketball, as well as all sports teams that represent Western Pennsylvania, including WPIAL High School Football.
For a refreshing view of sports, mixed with humor and uncensored opinions, check out Pittsburgh SportsNation today on Facebook, Twitter @PghSportsNation and videos with over 1,000,000 views on YouTube!
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